June 24, 2014

Nepal: Doctors desert health camp set up for cholera patients

RAUTAHAT, June 23: A few days ago, two doctors involved in treating cholera patients at a health camp set up in Gaindatar village of Rautahat handed over the responsibility to junior health staff and left the village.

The doctors, Dharmendra Patel and Amit Yadav, returned to Chandranigahapur, leaving the responsibility of the health camp in the hands of health assistants and auxiliary health workers citing fatigue even as the cholera outbreak began to get worse since it first started around two months ago.

“The doctors had left the health camp five days ago and they have yet to return to the village,” said Sanjeev Mandal, a health assistant at the camp. “More patients have been admitted since the doctors left. We are now struggling to provide treatments to the patients.”

So far, a total of 1,135 patients have been affected by the disease in Gaidatar, which lies 55 km north of district headquarters Gaur. And the number of patients visiting the free health camp set up in the village is on the rise.

Health assistant Sanjeev, who is currently overseeing the treatment of cholera victims at the camp, said that the deadly epidemic, believed to be caused by contaminated drinking water, has not been brought under control yet.

Due to lack of clean and hygienic drinking water, locals are forced to consume contaminated water from the river.

A Gaidakot local attributed the cholera outbreak to open defecation by the residents of Dhiyal VDC which is located upstream. Interestingly, Dhiyal VDC in Makawanpur was declared open defecation free.

Admitting the failure to bring the epidemic under control, Duryodhan Prasad Chandrabanshi, acting superintendent of the DPHO, Rautahat, said, cholera patients after treatment started consuming contaminated drinking water in the village and got infected again.

Comments

RAUTAHAT, June 23: A few days ago, two doctors involved in treating cholera patients at a health camp set up in Gaindatar village of Rautahat handed over the responsibility to junior health staff and left the village.

The doctors, Dharmendra Patel and Amit Yadav, returned to Chandranigahapur, leaving the responsibility of the health camp in the hands of health assistants and auxiliary health workers citing fatigue even as the cholera outbreak began to get worse since it first started around two months ago.

“The doctors had left the health camp five days ago and they have yet to return to the village,” said Sanjeev Mandal, a health assistant at the camp. “More patients have been admitted since the doctors left. We are now struggling to provide treatments to the patients.”

So far, a total of 1,135 patients have been affected by the disease in Gaidatar, which lies 55 km north of district headquarters Gaur. And the number of patients visiting the free health camp set up in the village is on the rise.

Health assistant Sanjeev, who is currently overseeing the treatment of cholera victims at the camp, said that the deadly epidemic, believed to be caused by contaminated drinking water, has not been brought under control yet.

Due to lack of clean and hygienic drinking water, locals are forced to consume contaminated water from the river.

A Gaidakot local attributed the cholera outbreak to open defecation by the residents of Dhiyal VDC which is located upstream. Interestingly, Dhiyal VDC in Makawanpur was declared open defecation free.

Admitting the failure to bring the epidemic under control, Duryodhan Prasad Chandrabanshi, acting superintendent of the DPHO, Rautahat, said, cholera patients after treatment started consuming contaminated drinking water in the village and got infected again.